


Charlie's advice

by moonfairy13



Series: Fremione and the Weasleys [9]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fred Weasley Lives, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Romance, Weasley Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 16:32:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15538389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonfairy13/pseuds/moonfairy13
Summary: Charlie wants to give Hermione some advice before her wedding to Fred.





	Charlie's advice

Hermione picked up her cross stitch project and frowned at the pattern, trying to remember where she had left off. It seemed an age since she had last worked on it, although it was actually only about 24 hours. So much had happened in that time. She looked up from her seat behind the apple tree on one of Molly’s patchwork quilts to see how the Weasleys were getting on. The Burrow’s back garden was still full of activity, which would probably carry on well into the evening. She had been instructed to take time to chill out though, until it was time for her and Fred to go on their first date. The fact that they were going to get married the day after their first date was unusual, to say the least, but she was managing to adjust to the idea.  
  
Hermione began to stitch, enjoying the solitude, and her peace lasted for six and a half minutes until Charlie arrived, a bottle of muggle beer in hand from the bar he and George had set up. He landed on the quilt beside her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before making himself comfortable.  
  
“Hello love, can I summon you a drink?”  
  
Hermione smiled at him. “I’m OK thanks, Charlie. I’ve drunk enough of your mum’s tea to sink a ship, and it’s still a bit early for me to hit the hard stuff.”  
  
Charlie laughed and tipped his beer towards her. “Fair enough, well cheers, love. I’ve come to give you the sex talk.” He swigged from his beer bottle.  
  
“Oh you have not, Charlie, you SO have not.” Hermione laughed and swatted his arm. He was unfazed and just laughed.  
  
“Have too, love. You’re marrying one of my favourite brothers tomorrow and I’m pretty sure you’re a virgin.” She blushed slightly but didn’t otherwise respond. “And,” he continued, “George had you to himself on his broom this morning, Mum and Ginny had time with you and you’ve hung out in the not-very-secret shed with Dad and Bill. Harry and Ron were here just now and Fleur is getting you ready tomorrow. Everyone else seems to be getting alone time with you before you and Fred are each other’s, so I figure it’s my turn. And I want to talk about sex.”  
  
Charlie didn’t know that Hermione could do her trademark ‘hands on hips’ move while seated and he tried to suppress a grin when she did.  
  
“Tell me precisely why, Charlie Weasley, you think I need advice on sex from you?” She saw the grin break out on his face and laughed again, but then realised there was a chance she would be heard from the other side of the garden. Or worse, The Burrow’s kitchen, where Molly was marshalling the cooking troops. Hermione was part embarrassed, part amused and, OK, yes maybe a little intrigued as well. Charlie was probably the most experienced of Fred’s siblings in that department and he might well be able to teach her a thing or two – just in theory, of course; she only had _those_ kind of feelings for Fred – but she wasn’t sure she could get over the embarrassment of an actual sex-related conversation with Charlie.  
  
“I’m not bad, you know.” He winked. “Just this morning you were contemplating an affair with me.”  
  
This time her laugh was loud enough to be heard, but another quick glance reassured her than no-one was headed their way. “Yes, and I am highly amused to have that threat hanging over Fred. Won’t hurt to have him think he has a bit of competition. But as much as I appreciate the sentiment, I think Fred and I have enough chemistry that we’ll figure it out.”  
  
“I’m sure you do, love. Will you hear me out, though? Give me twenty minutes and anything I have to say you can take or leave.”  
  
Hermione pondered, watching the dragon depicted in Charlie’s tattoo swing his tail lazily across the bit of Charlie’s side that was exposed when he lifted his arm to drink his beer. She knew that curiosity was going to win, and it did.  
  
“Go on then,” she looked across at him. “I’ll listen. As long as I can sew as well.”  
  
“Right,” Charlie began. “So. We live in this really sexist world in which women still get a pretty rotten deal in many ways. But most of them don’t even realise it. They think they’re liberated because they have won the right to act like men, but we don’t properly value femininity. Worse, our culture, and I mean both muggle AND wizard culture, still teaches women to be ‘good girls’,” he made scare quotes in the air with his fingers, taking care not to spill his beer as he did, “We need to help women find their own power by understanding the issues and refusing to be controlled by their conditioning.”  
  
Hermione’s eyebrows shot up. She was NOT expecting that, but he definitely had her full attention now.  
  
“Charlie…”  
  
“What? You think all I know about is dragons?” He shrugged. “I love women. I love books and ideas. I’m interested in how the world works. Culture, politics, all that stuff. And I once spent a very pleasant summer with a muggle woman who taught this stuff and really opened my eyes to it.”  
  
“I am just … um … I think I’m in awe right now. You sound like me. Please carry on. I want to hear more...”  
  
“OK. So, as I understand it, many little girls get taught to focus on thinking more about what others want than about what they want. They learn to scan the people around them all the time to check that everyone else is happy. But they often don’t think about, let alone express their own needs, and that doesn’t help anybody. Does that sound about right?”  
  
Hermione nodded, and Charlie leaned in closer.  
  
“Don’t spend your life or your sex life trying to please others, ‘Mione. I guarantee you, if Fred wants or doesn’t want something, he’ll tell you. Dad has made damn sure all of us Weasley sons are gentlemen, but we’ve also been raised with a lot of pureblood white male privilege. Your job isn’t just to think about what he wants. It’s to figure out what you want and communicate that to him.” He drank more beer before looking directly into her eyes. “Do you know what most men really want, deep down?”  
  
Hermione shook her head. She really was lost for words at Charlie’s outpouring.  
  
“To give their witch – or wizard – pleasure. That’s what we want. We want to make you happy. I sometimes think we might even be wired to make you happy. But we’re not always good at knowing how to do that, so you need to help us out by being clear. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a cup of tea, or to run to the grocery store at 3am or to learn to pick up our socks or to curl up between your legs and kiss and tongue your pussy until you melt in our arms.” Charlie chose to ignore the blush that rose to Hermione’s cheeks at that. “It’s never a chore. Figure out what you want, and tell Fred. Ask him. Straight out, no guessing games.”  
  
“I’m not really a game-playing witch,” murmured Hermione, wrinkling her nose at the thought.  
  
“I know you’re not, love. Some are. It’s not their fault; it’s how they were raised. I know you don’t take any shit either. But I still reckon you might need to do some work on asking for what you need. In the bed, in the rest of the house, wherever. You’ve never worried enough about your own needs, love. That’s why we’ve had to work hard all day to get you to rest and take time for yourself. If you can master that, you’ll both be happier for it. If you don’t tell Fred what you want and what you’re thinking, he can’t know. Weasley men's brains just don’t work that way.”  
  
“OK,” Hermione nodded again, as she snipped a thread from her sewing. “Just for the record, this sex talk is better than I feared.”  
  
“Well that’s good love, because now I’m warmed up, we’re going to move onto the sex.”  
  
“Oh.” She reached down and picked up another coloured thread, doubling it up and bringing it closer to her face as she attempted to thread it through the eye of her needle.  
  
“Basically the same thing though. Let him know what you like. Tell him what you want, but you don’t always have to use words. Move his hand, lean into his touch if you like what he’s doing, let him know without words sometimes.”  
  
“I like words.” Her voice was soft.  
  
“So use words too. Harder, Fred. Faster. Oh yes. No, here, there, oooh, more. Not so fast, love.” Charlie’s voice was low and sultry as he emphasised his meaning. “But don’t be afraid to tell him. He needs to learn your body, and what you like at different times. Help him do that, ‘Mione. And, in case I haven’t said it enough yet, ask for what you want. Don’t lie there and fantasise. And, by the way, he’ll bloody love it if you get bossy with him in bed now and again.”  
  
“OK, now I AM going to blush.”  
  
“Well, blushing can be good, but so is taking the lead sometimes. If you want him, tell him. Do that thing where you put your hands on your hips and order him to join you in bed. When you get there, tell him he’s your slave and tell him what you want him to do. He’ll be so hard, love. Don’t always wait for him to make a move. Send him owls bearing naughty messages. And lastly, I humbly suggest you make a policy of trying anything once.”  
  
“Anything?” Her eyebrow lifted as she turned to him.  
  
“Well not if you’re really uncomfortable with it. I’m just saying be open to new possibilities. You never know what you’ll like til you try.”  
  
Hermione nodded. “OK.”  
  
Charlie tipped his head back and drank more beer. “Always figure out and ask for what you want, Hermione. Don’t wait to be offered it. Most important of all, now you’ve found someone who makes your heart sing, hold on to him with everything you have.”  
  
A slight break in Charlie’s voice caught Hermione’s attention and, with a little jolt of shock, she realised that his eyes were full of an emotion that she had never seen there before.  
  
“Charlie?”  
  
“Sorry, love.”  
  
“It’s OK. What going on for you?”  
  
“Fuck, I had no clue this thing with you and Fred would make me so emotional! It’s just that … well I learned this from an amazing woman, the best I ever knew. And as my honorary sister I wanted to make sure you knew it. Just didn’t know it would happen so soon. I’d like to tell Ginny too, when the time comes, but I might need you to help with that. Not sure she’ll sit and listen for as long as you have.”  
  
“I will, Charlie. And thank you.” Hermione decided not to point out that Ginny was already far more sexually experienced than she was. Best let the Weasley boys continue to think their little sister was innocently waiting for her wedding night rather than sneaking Harry into her room at every opportunity.  
  
There was a pause while Hermione sewed a few more stitches onto her fabric, allowing Charlie a moment to gather his thoughts. Then she spoke quietly, and with her head still bowed.  
  
“Charlie?”  
  
“Yes, love?”  
  
“Who is she?”  
  
He took a deep breath. He had never told anyone this before, but it felt like the right time and the right person to confess to. He needed more beer though, and picked up his wand to accio another bottle over before answering.  
  
“Her name is Lauren. That muggle lecturer I mentioned?”  
  
Hermione nodded.  
  
“Her.”  
  
“What happened?”  
  
“We met in the mountains when I was out hiking for a few days checking for dragon nests. We do it on foot so as not to scare the mothers. One day I trekked further than usual and ended up stumbling into some spa retreat resort place. Stopped to buy a beer and there she was. Said she was giving herself a few weeks of rest with this clever little grey thing which had a load of books in it. Fuck knows how they got in there without magic, but they did because she’s definitely not a witch.”  
  
Hermione smiled to herself, making a mental note to get Charlie an e-reader for Christmas, along with a decent solar charger.  
  
“Told her I was camping nearby and cataloguing the area for work, which wasn’t really a lie. Set up a tent and apparated back and forth to the reserve when I needed to. Wine, romance, long nights under the stars. It was the best few weeks of my life.”  
  
He paused, and Hermione reached for his hand, threading her small fingers through his larger ones. She had had no idea that he had been hurting this much over a woman. This flirty, clever, funny man who always had a cheerful word and a suggestive wink for her; how could she have missed it? Then she remembered Charlie’s own words about how she didn’t actually need to be on top of everyone else’s feelings and worries and shook her head at her own train of thought.  
  
“She never knew I was a wizard, of course,” he continued. “Froze my tattoos, hid my wand and all that. I was afraid to tell her. Don’t know much about the Statute of Secrecy, only that it exists and I’d be in trouble if I let on. It’s not like we made any promises about the future anyway, both felt that it was just a lovely thing to share for a summer. She knew I would be in Romania for a while longer and gave me this; said to get in touch and have a drink when I was in the UK…”  
  
Charlie pulled a card from his pocket and showed it to Hermione. “I keep it with me all the time. I only realised I loved her after she left, and I didn’t have the first idea how to use it to reach her. When I was in the UK that Christmas, I asked a muggle-born friend, but he said she wasn’t there anymore. Then things got a bit nuts in the lead-up to the war…” He swigged some more beer. “I’ve never met anyone like her. I’d have done anything to be able to be with her for longer if I could still keep my family. They could have taken my wand, I could have coped with that, but not my family.”  
  
Hermione’s thoughts were racing. The card Charlie had shown her was a standard university business card containing Lauren’s contact details. It would have been relatively meaningless to Charlie, who had little knowledge of the muggle world but, even if Lauren had changed jobs, Hermione was confident she could use that bit of card to help find his lover.  
  
“Charlie? When my life has calmed down a little and I’m a married woman and have taken all your advice on board on my wedding night, can I help? See if we can find her?”  
  
“It’s been nearly three years, love. She could be married with a kid or two by now.”  
  
“Well yes, she could be. But she might not. We can only try. You told me to ask for what I want, well I want to help you find her, Charlie Weasley.”  
  
“I’d love that, ‘Mione.”  
  
“Good.” They sat in silence for a few moments while he finished his beer.  
  
“Now tell me; how much more beer is it going to take til I get flirty Charlie back?”  
  
Charlie smiled. “No more beer, love. Maybe just a cuddle? Let’s see how long I can get away with before Fred comes marching over.”  
  
“I can do that, Charlie.” She settled into his arms and squeezed him tightly, relieved to hear him sounding more like the Charlie she was used to. If only she wasn’t busy getting married the next day, she would already begun her research. Instead, it would have to wait. But she hoped that one day she could help give Charlie many more nights under the stars with the woman whose wisdom he had passed on to her.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for all the reviews, I love hearing your thoughts and it it definitely helping spur me on to write more. The date is coming soon!


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